What's the primary argument of your book?
My book, The Verbal Aspect Integral to the Perfect and Pluperfect Tense-Forms in the Pauline Corpus: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis, argues that the verbal aspect contained within the Greek Perfect tense-form is comprised of not one aspect as most scholars claim, but two aspects in tension with each other. On one hand, the imperfective aspect is located in the reduplicant on the front of the lexical verb and views a state related to the subject of the sentence. On the other hand, the perfective aspect is located in the lexical verb and views an event related to lexical meaning of the verb. This complex aspect allows for three types of readings for the Greek Perfect that either focus on a state, focus on an event as a whole, or focus on a state resulting from an action. This study is grounded in grammaticalisation studies and is supported by several parallel arguments. It also better explains why the Greek Perfect changes its focus over time, whereas other tense-forms do not.
What led you to study this subject?
After reading the cardinal works on verbal aspect by Stanley Porter, Buist Fanning, and Constantine Campbell, I realised that although they share much in common while explaining the other Greek tense-forms, they starkly disagreed over the description and meaning of the Greek Perfect tense-form. This showed that this area in particular required more work. It additionally seemed that none of the three views fully explained what a Perfect tense is semantically, nor were they able to account for all of the uses of the Greek Perfect over time.
How does your book contribute to the field?
My book contributes to the fields of Greek Grammar and Greek Linguistics in that it better explains what a Greek Perfect tense is than do previous works. It also accounts for the wide-ranging Perfect tense usage over time better than do works that argue for a single aspect on the Greek Perfect. My book connects the meaning derived within the study to several linguistic fields and offers corrections to grammars and commentaries as well.
What does it mean to you to be a scholar in the Wesleyan tradition?
When interpreting biblical texts generally, I use the Wesleyan Quadrilateral method to inform my interpretation at any one point in the text. I connect the life of the Christian to heart Holiness and see that aspect best realised in the communal life in the congregation rather than the individual devotional life. As John Wesley did himself, I strive to gain mastery of the biblical languages in order to then say accurate things about the texts being interpreted.
How do you see your scholarly work as part of your ministry?
I see this book as aiding the student of Greek grammar. This provides a resource that is grounded in linguistics for interpreting instances of the Greek Perfect within the Greek New Testament. This in turn enables pastors and biblical commentators to rightly divide scripture.
What are some of the differences between writing a doctoral thesis and writing a scholarly monograph?
When writing a thesis, you write to convince your supervisor and your examiners. When writing a book, you write to convince the larger scholarly world. This difference sometimes means different wording or sometimes careful rewording in some sections. I began my writing process as though I needed to convince anyone who had read the primary literature. This meant that I had fewer places that needed that re-write.
Did you find new evidence or learn new information while rewriting?
I was able to add some recent material in my footnotes and reference lists, and in some places treat the newer literature in the text, but the larger works being published during this time did not have substantial information that I needed to deal with. I will be dealing with some of these in future peer-reviewed articles.
What made NTC and Manchester ideal places to undertake your doctoral studies?
Several things made NTC and Manchester ideal places to perform this research. First, I was offered assistance during the proposal drafting stage. This helped to clarify what both institutions were looking for in a proposal. Not every institution offers this assistance. Second, the programme was flexible enough for me to enhance my skills by taking courses from Lancaster and Birmingham in Corpus Linguistics, which enabled me to provide evidence for my thesis.
What are some other projects in progress or ones you're looking forward to post-publication?
I have been researching uses of the infinitive in Greek where two or more are used together as well as certain patterns of conditional clauses that alternate the grammatical pattern. I am working on the nature of humanity as it relates to sin and atonement, and on identifying how the NT handles the distinction between sanctification and purification that is prevalent in the OT.
What advice do you have for recent doctoral graduates who want to publish their theses?
First of all, follow the advice of your examiners. Once you are in contact with acquisitions editors, follow their advice. You want to see your book published in the series that your book fits with best. Write with the general field in mind as you write your thesis, this may save you some time later in the publication process. Realise that everything you send in linked together (such as indexing) will become unlinked as it gets transferred over to the file system the publisher uses, and you will have to ensure that the links are re-established in the right places when you go over the proofs.
